PTC Targets MTV's 'I Want My Pants Back' Over Racy Content

Here we go again — the Parents Television Council, which waged a campaign against MTV’s racy drama Skins last year, has another new MTV scripted series in its cross hairs, comedy I Just Want My Pants Back. “While the show is only rated TV-14, content has already included the prelude to a sexual foursome and a woman asking a man to insert his finger into her rectum during intercourse,” the PTC noted. Like it did with Skins, the PTC is reaching out to Pants‘ sponsors, including Dr. Pepper, T-Mobile and Toyota, asking them not to support the new show over its risque content. “Once again MTV is taking HBO-style content and marketing it to a Nickelodeon-age audience,” PTC president Tim Winter said. PTC has also contacted the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, objecting to its granting Pants a TV-14 rating. But while Skins aired at 10 PM, Pants is scheduled at 11 PM and as comedy, most of its sexual content is for humorous effect. (As one commenter pointed out, MTV rebroadcasts Pants during the day, something it didn’t do with Skins, but the version that airs before 11 PM is edited, with the inappropriate content taken out.) Plus, Skins’ most vulnerable spot was the fact that some actors involved in sex scenes were underage. The youngest actor on Pants is 25-year-old. Despite PTC’s campaign against Skins, MTV stuck with the show throughout its freshman run but canceled it weeks later. Pants, which centers on a twenty-something guy trying to juggle sex, love, career and friendship out of college, had its official premiere on Feb. 2 with 1.7 million viewers, in line with recent MTV comedy hit Awkward (also 1.7 at 11 PM). It grew in Week 2 to 1.9 million.